Despite its bad reputation, we’ve both enjoyed staying in Manila and its location means that we were able to book trips to other parts of the Philippines with ease. The city itself is an eyesore, with sewage water running in the streets, children begging for food and plenty of security guards holding huge machine guns (our hotel asks of its guests to “leave deadly weapons with the guard”) all of which has filled me with unease, since we stick out like a sore thumb as westerners. It is heart breaking to see so much poverty and we’ve helped where we can, buying food for others whilst getting our own, but as ignorant as it sounds, I’m very much looking forward to going to a nicer part of the country.